A low-budget indie film shot over a month and a half in the winter of 1970, JOE traces the adversarial relationship between a white-collar father (Dennis Patrick) and his hippie daughter (a debuting Susan Sarandon). After a confrontation with her grungy partner (Patrick McDermott), the traumatized patriarch winds up at a bar, where he befriends working-class Joe (Peter Boyle), who is a fount of caustic barbs against the counterculture. The pair bond and set out on an odyssey that concludes in nightmarish carnage at a rural commune. Re-editing the film around Boyle's performance and even releasing a soundtrack album devoted to his diatribes, original distributor Cannon not only made JOE box-office gold, but turned Boyle himself into a star.